{"id":34812,"date":"2016-12-05T12:21:15","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T20:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=34812"},"modified":"2016-12-07T23:41:03","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T07:41:03","slug":"photography-is-trial-and-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/photography-is-trial-and-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Photography is Trial and Error"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Every time you click the shutter, you are making an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153attempt\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to make a good photograph.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography is trial and error. When you click the shutter, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know whether you will get a good shot or not. Most of the time we will fail. But we learn how to make better photos from our failures.<\/p>\n

We examine our photos after<\/em> we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve shot them \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and we think to ourselves, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How can I make a better photo next time<\/em>?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Life is trial and error<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Berkeley, 2015 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In life, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what is best for us. The most intelligent thing to do is to just experiment. To learn from trial and error.<\/p>\n

Are you not sure whether that person is right for you romantically? Trial and error it \u00e2\u20ac\u201d go on a few dates, and learn if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wrong about that person (or right).<\/p>\n

Are you running your own business? Keep tinkering, and experimenting with new ideas. Figure out what works, and ditch what doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work.<\/p>\n

Try to fix things<\/h2>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fixing your car that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start, it is all based on trial and error. Disconnect certain things, and re-connect certain things.<\/p>\n

The same thing goes for fixing your computer, for fixing appliances, or any gadget you have lying around.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Attempt\u00e2\u20ac\u009d more.<\/h2>\n

\"1-downtown-la-finger-contact\"<\/p>\n

Apparently the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153essay\u00e2\u20ac\u009d means \u00e2\u20ac\u0153attempt.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Whenever you write an essay, you are trying to make sense about the world. You are attempting to gain self-wisdom.<\/p>\n

When you click the shutter, you are attempting to make more sense of the world. You are attempting to make more sense of how you see the world. You are trying to understand who you are as a human being, through the images that you make.<\/p>\n

No pressure<\/h2>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put too much pressure on yourself. Each time you click the shutter, it is just an attempt. It is very rare you will make a good photo. If you can click 100 times, and get 1 good photo, you are doing (really) well.<\/p>\n

The same goes with me as a blogger\u00e2\u20ac\u201d whenever I blog something, I am not sure whether it will resonate with people or not. But I am simply making \u00e2\u20ac\u0153attempts.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I am learning about my writing through trial and error. Because nobody has the answers, and nobody can predict the future.<\/p>\n

How to be more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153successful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/h2>\n

\"0-1\"<\/p>\n

A practical tip to maximize your success rate (or the chance for you to do more trial and error) is to maximize serendipity around yourself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That means, put yourself in more random, and novel situations. Go to dinner parties with people you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. You are more likely to meet someone very unique and interesting. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just stay trapped in your small social circle. In sociology I actually learned that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153weak ties<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (friends of friends, or random acquaintances) are the key to finding jobs, and opportunities.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but it might mean living in a city that allows for more serendipity. That is one of the big benefits of living in a popular city \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you are more likely to go to parties with more serendipity, you are more likely to find exhibitions or galleries with more serendipity, or you are more likely to bump into random people at cafe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n

But don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fret\u00e2\u20ac\u201d if you live in the country, you still have the internet; the ultimate serendipity machine. Often times I waste a lot of time on YouTube, Google, and Wikipedia \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to find random concepts, and ideas, that give birth to articles (like this).<\/p>\n

\"1-contact-nola-2\" \"1-contact-nola-1\"<\/p>\n

Another concept: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Love to lose<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see losing, or failure as a downside. Realize the more you make mistakes, the more you fail, the more likely you are to make it big<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Each time you swing your bat, you have a chance of hitting a home run. To use a more European analogy \u00e2\u20ac\u201d each time you kick the ball, the more likely you are to make a goal.<\/p>\n

Seize anything in life that looks like an opportunity<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and take more risks. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take dumb risks with unlimited downside. Rather, figure out what is your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153worst case scenario\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in terms of your downside of risk. Limit your downside, and maximize your upside.<\/p>\n

Learn to love risk<\/h2>\n

\"0\"<\/p>\n

To learn more about serendipity, randomness, and gaining more upside from life, I highly recommend reading \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Antifragile<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Nassim Taleb, as well as his books \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fooled by Randomness<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Black Swan<\/a>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Or feel free to read my entrepreneurship articles<\/a>, which are a distillation of what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned from these philosophers and businesspeople.<\/p>\n

\"1-istanbul-metro-contact\"<\/p>\n

Take more risks. Stay hungry, stay foolish. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be so foolish that you will die, but clip you downside, and maximize your upside.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

To learn the importance of “working the scene” in street photography, check out my new book: “Street Photography Contact Sheets Volume II<\/strong><\/a>“<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time you click the shutter, you are making an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153attempt\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to make a good photograph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35611,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/contact-cindy-v-2.jpg?fit=3300%2C1747&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}